Read Online How to Handle a Heartbreaker by Marie Harte - Free Book Online

room and down the stairs to follow him.
    “Tell me what happened,” Vanessa whispered as they rushed into the kitchen to watch Brody take a shirt from the dryer, located in what used to be a butler’s pantry. “I’m dying to know.”
    “So am I,” Abby said under her breath. To Brody, she raised her voice. “I thought you said you washed the shirt. You dried it too? Make yourself at home, why don’t you.”
    Vanessa stared at Brody as he buttoned up and hid all that golden skin. “Actually, I threw it in the dryer last night. Thought it was Flynn’s. His car is outside.”
    Abby would have chastised her for staring, but she had a hard time looking away herself.
    Vanessa continued, “I should have known the good cowboy would be too busy handling the pussy upstairs to do laundry.”
    Brody stared at her openmouthed, and Abby turned to regard her roommate with shock. Even for Vanessa, that sounded crass.
    To her surprise, Vanessa colored. “Stop it. I meant pussy —as in pussy cat . You remember Maddie’s costume? Geez, guys. Grow up.” She stomped away, but not before Brody exchanged a comical look with Abby.
    “I don’t think I can suffer too many more shocks to my system.” Brody finished buttoning his shirt and shut the dryer door. Then, as if he lived there, he walked back into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and pulled out a carton of orange juice. He searched for a glass, found it, and poured himself a tall drink.
    He took half and offered the rest to Abby.
    Offended at his familiarity, she grabbed it and downed her juice while he put the carton away. “Mine.”
    “Hey, baby, anything you want is okay with me. You’re in charge.” He winked, and she had a bad feeling she was missing out on the joke.
    “Ah, okay.” She finished the juice and felt a bit better, even if she had consumed citric acid on top of the pool of alcohol still in her stomach.
    “Well, I’d stay for breakfast—”
    “That wasn’t offered.”
    “—but Mutt’s probably missing me. Seth feeds him and lets him out if I need him to, but the dog loves me best. And you, of course.”
    She frowned. “You rescued him and decided to keep him. Why not give him a real name?”
    He shrugged, his shoulders broad and imposing, especially clad in black. “When I hear it, I’ll know. But keep trying. Your suggestions are far better than anyone else’s.”
    “Oh yeah?”
    “Yeah. Mike calls him ‘Get Off.’ Colin wants to give him these long, descriptive names. Like ‘Killer of Squirrels’ and ‘Alien Dog from the Deep.’ Not sure where he got that one.”
    “Probably from the Godzilla movie on the other night. I heard your brother blasting Flynn for letting Colin watch it when he should have been in bed.”
    “Flynn is so weak. He always gets caught.”
    She laughed, unable to help it. “You’re bad.”
    “But smart. You never see Mike slamming me for anything.”
    She nodded and realized she’d called Mike his brother, and Brody hadn’t flinched. She wanted so badly to know how they worked as a unit. Her writer’s mind started a new series of books right then and there, all centered around a golden-haired hottie who had women flocking to him, while he secretly nursed a wounded heart. What wounds and why, though?
    “Why are you looking at me like that?” He sounded curious.
    She blew out a breath. “I need food.”
    “So you want to eat me?”
    She wanted to answer the smart remark in the tone it had been given, but Flynn and Maddie arrived just in time to misconstrue Brody’s comment.
    Flynn glanced from Abby to Brody. “Oh wow. High five, bro.” He held his hand up to Brody, who slapped it back.
    “Really, Abby? You went from virginal goddess last night to a rumpled walk-of-shame girl? And propositioning Brody, of all people, in our kitchen?” Maddie sounded pretty damn haughty for a woman who’d tied up and screwed her boyfriend in the room right next door to Abby’s not so long ago.
    “I said I